So last week we kind of wrapped up our adventures in moving like the Beverly Hillbillies! So what is it REALLY like to live in the backyard of Magic Kingdom?! Well for the most part it’s pretty magical, I mean I’m sitting in Animal Kingdom right now as I type this listening to the street band play, playing with Disney ducks watching boat cavalcades go by and looking up at the Tree of Life so I can’t complain! But let’s get real honest here, it’s still everyday life!
Reality is, you still have to work and pay bills and miss out on things sometimes! As I said in the first blog, Jays nice work from home job was no more right before we moved so things look a lot different than we had planned. He goes to the office now and has to travel a lot during the week overseeing projects he’s working on and I am still teaching twice a week and substitute teaching at the schools now too. The boys have activities two nights a week. So not all fun and games! BUT it is a little extra magical to know the magic is right there when we can go!
Is It All Disney All The Time?
We go to the parks plenty, and love doing that but we also just love the community and place we have ended up in regardless of Disney! Winter Garden and the Horizon West area in general has it’s own kind of magic!
There is always something to do with the family or places to explore you have never been! So far in the short 4 months we’ve been here we have done a community 5K with friends, renewed our vows for our 20th anniversary at Port Orleans Riverside and had a party for that, gone to check out some places like Showcase of Citrus in Cleremont, swam in a natural spring at Wekiva Springs, snuck to the parks while the boys were at school, done scavenger hunts in the parks, celebrated fall and halloween in Downtown Winter Garden, went to two Oktoberfests and got to even watch some Wiener Dog Races, spent most Saturdays downtown at the Farmers Market and then some!
One of my favorite things we do fairly often is just go over to Disney Springs to walk around and hear all the different bands playing there. Thatcher has a favorite band that also plays at the UK pavilion in Epcot and got to meet them and get his shirt signed, they even gave him a guitar pick! He has had a pretty eventful time! He also got to meet the Ninja Kids from YouTube last week!
What’s Different Now That We Live Here?
I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to driving home from the studio and watching the fireworks from the highway, or laying in bed and hearing them go off! Thatcher just said yesterday that he will be glad when the after hours parties are over so the fireworks are going off every night at bedtime again! haha!
Most of those things we have done and experienced were FREE! Thats been the best part, just being able to go and enjoy things without having to spend a bunch of money. Of course there are plenty of things to spend money on there if you can/want to but you don’t HAVE to and that’s been great!
We pay for our Annual Passes each month since we are Florida residents but we try very hard not to spend a bunch of money in the parks when we go! We go after dinner and the boys have started to understand we aren’t on vacation so we can’t just buy stuff every time we go!!
That has been an adjustment for sure! Coming from a place of always enjoying the parks as a vacation that you have saved up money to spend while you’re there and going to a place where you can’t eat all the things every time you go or buy all the new cool stuff every time it comes out! Oh to win the lottery! Hahaha! Totally kidding, I already feel like I’ve won the lottery in life, but who wouldn’t want a few million?!
Conclusion
So long story longer, it’s still life just in our happy place! We can’t go and do it all but we can do some! I get to sit in my favorite places to type this blog and do other work and it’s really fun to share it with all of you! Next week I’m going to talk about making new friends in Florida, what it’s like when friends come visit and adulting in Disney! Thank you guys for being here and reading my ramblings, I truly do appreciate it! Have a Magical Day!